ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: January 18, 2012

SMETHPORT, Pa. — A suspended Catholic priest on trial for charges of having an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old boy last year told police he felt “old and alone” so he bought the boy’s friendship with expensive gifts.

The Bradford Era (http://bit.ly/xUNpMW ) reports a McKean County jury is expected to begin deliberating Wednesday whether the Rev. Samuel Slocum corrupted the boy and interfered with his mother’s custody of him by contacting the boy after his mother told the priest to stop. Jurors heard the 60-year-old priest’s statement to police on Tuesday. The priest denies sexual feelings for the boy, saying he felt more like the boy’s “Dad.”

The Erie diocese removed Slocum from duty at two churches in McKean County after the charges were filed in April.

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RACINE (WI)
The Journal Times

LINDSAY FIORI lindsay.fiori@journaltimes.com | Posted: Wednesday, January 18, 2012

RACINE — A St. Catherine’s High School teacher retired this month after abuse allegations were raised regarding a previous school, according to St. Catherine’s officials.

Gary Craanen, a religion teacher at St. Catherine’s for more than 30 years, retired in January after the author of an upcoming book about sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Trenton, N.J., notified St. Catherine’s officials of allegations involving Craanen, according to a Jan. 13 letter to the school community from St. Catherine’s President Christopher Olley.

The book alleges Craanen solicited two teenage boys for sexual services and performed a sexual act in front of one of them during the late 1970s while he was vice principal and disciplinarian at the Divine Word Seminary high school in Bordentown, N.J, according to Bruce Novozinsky, author of the book, which is scheduled for self-publication through Amazon in May.

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SLOVENIA
STA

Ljubljana, 18 January (STA) – The Ptuj District Court ruled that former parish priest of Ormož, who is serving a prison sentence for sexual assault of a minor, and his Order of the Holy Cross should pay EUR 41,500 in compensation to one of the priest’s victims, media report on Wednesday.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB

[with video]

Shannon Ross

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A veteran priest who was abruptly removed from a Buffalo Church over the weekend, is said to have admitted to accusations.

Father Secondo Casarotto, of Saint Anthony of Padua Church, has been placed on Administrative Leave over claims he assaulted a female parishioner last year.

The alleged victim’s lawyer contacted News 4 Tuesday night, and says Father Secundo admitted he committed the assault to police.

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DELAWARE
The New York Times

Published: January 17, 2012

On Tuesday, Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware commuted the death sentence of Robert Gattis to life without parole. In doing so, he said he gave “great weight” to the careful decision of the state board of pardons to recommend that the sentence be commuted, the first such recommendation the board has made since the death penalty was reinstated there in 1974. As a condition of the commutation, which is supported by a long list of former judges and prosecutors, Mr. Gattis is expected to waive all legal challenges and live out his life in prison.

Mr. Gattis killed his girlfriend in 1990 after an angry quarrel. The pardons board wrote that before the murder, “Mr. Gattis complained to medical professionals of mental illness and involuntary violent impulses” from the extreme and continuous sexual abuse he suffered as a child. The governor called this background “among the most troubling I have encountered.” Mr. Gattis’s lawyers failed to submit much of the ample proof about his mental illness and its devastating effects. The board was able to take full account of that mitigating factor.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

Published: Wednesday, January 18, 2012

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board

You might think that recent high-profile sex abuse scandals at Penn State University and elsewhere would serve as crisis management lessons for others.

Yet here we are, questioning another organization — this time, the Delbarton School in Morris Township — that appears unwilling to learn from those who failed.

News broke last week that Delbarton’s former headmaster, the Rev. Luke Travers, had contact with students at a school in Virginia while supposedly under investigation for sexual misconduct with Delbarton students many years ago. One former student told Delbarton officials that, as his father lay dying during his senior year, Travers consoled him by offering him liquor and kissing him on the neck and ears.

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NEW YORK
Warwick Advertiser

WARWICK — Bishop Dominick Lagonegro, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York and Episcopal Vicar of Orange County, addressed the parishioners of the Church of St. Stephen, the First Martyr, during Masses last weekend.

He explained that it was his sad duty to report that it had come to the attention of Archdiocesan officials that while the Rev. Casmir Mung’aho was a seminarian, he had fathered a child in a consensual relationship with an adult woman.

Mung’aho was recently assigned to St. Stephen’s Parish.

Lagonegro explained that as a candidate for Holy Orders, Mung’aho had never revealed this to the bishops or seminary authorities and that he was the father of a child was not known at the time of his ordination last May.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Halifax Courier

Published on Wednesday 18 January 2012

A CALDERDALE lawyer is leading a campaign demanding the Roman Catholic Church open its “secret archives” on child abuse.

Richard Scorer, who lives in Hebden Bridge, is a senior solicitor with Manchester-based legal firm Pannone.

He is now heading a team of the country’s top lawyers in the field of child abuse, which this week has asked the Government to order a public inquiry to force the Catholic Church to open up its archives to scrutiny.

If successful, the Church will be forced to make public its closely guarded files which for centuries have remained under lock and key and for the eyes only of Catholic Church leaders.

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t’emoignage Chretien (France)

Par Hendro Munsterman

T­out commence en février 2010, lorsque deux journalistes néerlandais attirent l’attention sur un cas d’abus sexuel sur enfant dans un ancien internat de salésiens de Don Bosco dans les années 1950.

Cette révélation, qui en suivait d’autres en Allemagne, en Irlande et aux États-Unis, fait remonter les souvenirs dans le pays. Évêques et responsables de congrégations et d’ordres religieux se voient alors obligés de demander à un homme politique protestant, l’ancien maire de La Haye Wim Deetman, de former et de présider une commission indépendante constituée de lui-même et cinq autres membres, tous universitaires.

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

Written by
SEAN O’SULLIVAN
The News Journal

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell today announced he is sparing the life of condemned killer Robert A. Gattis, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection early Friday morning.

It is the first time in modern memory, and perhaps the first time ever, that a Delaware governor has commuted a death sentence.

Markell’s action means the execution will now be called off and the 49-year-old Gattis – who was convicted and sentenced to death for the May 1990 murder of his one-time girlfriend Shirley Slay – will spend the rest of his life in prison.

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NEDERLAND
Friesch Dagblad

Den Haag | Minister Ivo Opstelten van Veiligheid en Justitie en staatssecretaris Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten van VWS stellen een Taskforce kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik in. Dit schrijven zij aan de Tweede Kamer in een reactie op het eindrapport van de commissie-Deetman over het seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk.

Commissievoorzitter Wim Deetman zei op 16 december bij de presentatie van dit eindverslag: ,,Er is iets grondig mis in de samenleving. Er zou meer onderzoek moeten komen over hoe het komt dat in onze samenleving zoveel kinderen slachtoffer zijn van seksueel misbruik.” Van de Nederlanders van veertig jaar en ouder is 1 op de 10 voor het achttiende jaar tegen zijn of haar zin seksueel benaderd door een volwassen niet-familielid. Het gaat om misbruik in alle geledingen in de samenleving.

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BELGIQUE
Catho

Sur ce site vous trouverez les documents qui concernent le contenu et la mise en œuvre des dispositions présentées dans la brochure des évêques et des supérieurs majeurs de Belgique relatif à l’approche globale des abus sexuels dans l’Église.

Ce site sera mis à jour avec les nouvelles informations disponibles ou les mesures supplémentaires.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

BRUSSEL – Het gerecht nam bij het bisdom Brugge minstens twee dossiers van geestelijken mee die Vangheluwe in bescherming zou hebben genomen.

Van onze redacteurs

De federale procureur Johan Delmulle en de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy hebben gisteren in het kader van Operatie Kelk nog meer huiszoekingen gedaan. Bij de bisdommen van Brugge en Gent hebben ze telkens elf dossiers van geestelijken meegenomen. Ook bij de congregatie Broeders van Liefde werden zes of zeven dossiers in beslag genomen.

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CANADA
Leader-Post

By Kerry Benjoe, Leader-Post
January 18, 2012

For the past two days residential school survivors had the opportunity to speak publicly about their experiences.

As a large crowd gathered in the atrium of the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv), the smell of sweetgrass lingered in the air.

One by one survivors recounted their experiences to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

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CANADA
Leader-Post

The tragic history of Canada’s 130-year Indian residential school system has generated so many public inquiries, commissions, articles, books and radio and TV documentaries some might think there’s nothing else to be learned.

They’d be wrong. Take Justice Murray Sinclair, the distinguished Manitoba judge who chairs what will perhaps become the definitive investigation into the residential school experience – the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Asked if he’s learned anything new from more than two years of hearings, survivor statements and documentary evidence, Sinclair doesn’t hesitate: “The number of children that died in residential schools shocks me.”

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NEDERLAND
Elsevier

De Tweede Kamer vindt dat premier Mark Rutte (VVD) verkeerde verwachtingen heeft gewekt in de kwestie van het kindermisbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk.

Rutte zei vorige maand dat het kabinet onderzoekt of rooms-katholieke geestelijken die zich schuldig hebben gemaakt aan misbruik binnen de kerk, alsnog kunnen worden vervolgd.

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BELGIQUE
RTL

La perquisition menée mercredi matin à l’évêché de Tournai a pris fin peu avant 10h. Aucun commentaire n’a été fait à la sortie des enquêteurs. Plusieurs caisses ont été emportées, a constaté l’agence Belga. D’autres perquisitions sont prévues en Wallonie.

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BELGIQUE
Le Vif

(Belga) Les enquêteurs de la police judiciaire fédérale chargés de l’enquête dans le cadre de l’opération Calice sont arrivés à l’Evêché de Namur mercredi vers 11h15 a constaté Belga.

Une dizaine d’enquêteurs entourant le juge d’instruction Wim De Troy sont arrivés à bord de plusieurs véhicules afin de mener là aussi des perquisitions relatives aux problèmes d’abus sexuels commis au sein de l’Eglise.

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BELGIQUE
rtbf

Des perquisitions ont eu lieu ce matin à l’évêché de Tournai, suivies de perquisitions à l’évêché de Namur, dans le cadre de l’opération “Calice”.

Une quinzaine de policiers fédéraux sont descendus à l’évêché de Tournai tôt ce matin. Des perquisitions dans le cadre de l’opération Calice, au lendemain de perquisitions similaires dans les évêchés de Bruges et de Gand.

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BELGIE
de Stentor

BRUSSEL – Voor de derde dag op rij zijn de politie en het Openbaar Ministerie bij een bisdom in België binnengevallen. Woensdag was het de beurt aan het bisdom Doornik in Wallonië. De huiszoekingen hebben te maken met Operatie Kelk, het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik binnen de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in België.

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BELGIE
NOS

De Belgische politie en justitie hebben opnieuw een inval gedaan in een bisdom, ditmaal in Doornik in Wallonië. Het OM is op zoek naar bewijzen tegen priesters die kindermisbruik hebben toegedekt. De acties vinden plaats in het kader van Operatie Kelk.

Eerder werden er al invallen gedaan in vijf bisdommen en een kloosterorde in Vlaanderen. Daarbij werden tientallen dossiers in beslag genomen.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

In het bisdom van Doornik vond woensdagochtend een huiszoeking plaats in het kader van Operatie Kelk. Die duurde ongeveer twee uur. De speurders gaven geen commentaar en namen verschillende dozen mee. Daarna ging het naar het bisdom van Namen. Volgens een bron die het dossier goed kent worden woensdag mogelijk nog andere huiszoekingen uitgevoerd in Waalse bisdommen.

Woensdagochtend werd een huiszoeking uitgevoerd in het bisdom van Doornik in het kader van Operatie Kelk, het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik binnen de Kerk. Daarna was het bisdom van Namen aan de beurt. De bisschop van Doornik, Mgr. Guy Harpigny, houdt woensdag tevens zijn nieuwjaarstoespraak.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Catholic

current article
by: William Cone, Editor

Potential buyers urged to make inquiries

The Diocese of Pittsburgh is continuing its efforts to market and sell unused church-owned buildings and vacant land.

Diocesan leaders recognize that vacant buildings can place a significant financial burden on parishes while creating issues related to safety, liability and aesthetics.

A typical parish has a church building, a rectory, possibly a convent and a school. Because of changes in demographics and associated parish mergers, some of those buildings are no longer being used. More parishes are realizing that unused buildings can be sold and help pay for other needs.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Tue, 17 Jan 2012

A group of solicitors representing victims of child abuse by clergy have written a letter to The Times (17 January) saying that the Church is still covering up crimes by priests and is incapable of policing itself. They call for a full public enquiry not only into the Catholic Church but also into the Church of England. The Times is paywalled so we are reproducing this letter here because we consider it too important to be overlooked:

“As lawyers working on behalf of children and vulnerable adults who have suffered sexual and physical abuse in institutional care, we write to call for a public inquiry into abuse within church organisations in England and Wales.

Officials of church organisations hold influential and highly respected roles within the community; historically they have enjoyed both the trust of the public and unquestioned access to children. This has undoubtedly created extensive opportunities for abuse. From cases we are handling currently, we are aware of some 41 Catholic priests who have been convicted of serious sexual offences in the recent past. Yet these very same organisations, particularly in the Catholic Church, have persistently ignored and in many cases covered up complaints of abuse.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Tuesday January 17 2012

THE late Mary Raftery was rightly a much respected and much loved journalist. And what follows is certainly not criticism of her or her achievements, but of our Great Single Narrative.

Once upon a time, the Great Single Narrative of Ireland was largely provided by the Catholic Church.

Now it comes from the new clergy in the secular media. In this current GSN, the hapless Irish people were oppressed by a sadistic caste of sexually depraved priests, who raped, brutalised and violated children at their ease, immune to all legal consequence.

As with all successful GSNs, there is sufficient truth in these allegations to sustain the myth. But within the culture that has emerged around this GSN, virtually all memory of the selflessness and dedication of scores of thousands of priests, brothers and nuns down the centuries has vanished.

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NETHERLANDS
Radio Netherlands

Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been accused of giving victims of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic church false hope that older cases might still result in prosecution of the perpetrators. Many cases happened too long ago for them to qualify for prosecution now under Dutch law.

Prime Minister Rutte said on television that he personally believed immunity from prosecution under the Dutch statute of limitations ought not to apply to such cases and that the matter would be looked at again, also in relation to European legislation.

When Justice and Security Minister Ivo Opstelten announced earlier this week that nothing could be done in cases barred by the statute of limitations this led to disappointment among many victims because of Mr Rutte’s earlier comment, Christian Democrat MP Madeleine van Toorenburg told Dutch public broadcaster NOS.

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ICELAND
Iceland Review

Seventeen people have come forward as victims under their own names to the investigative commission of the Catholic Church in Iceland, responsible for uncovering abuse which is said to have taken place under the church’s veil a few decades ago.

Other alleged victims who preferred to remain anonymous have also contacted the commission. All of these people are now adults. However, no teacher, parent or relative have reported abuse to the commission, Fréttablaðið reports.

All these people were either students at the Catholic Church’s school, Landakotsskóli, or attendees of the summer camp Riftún in Ölfus, south Iceland, operated by the church.

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CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

Victims of serial sexual abusers should consider filing their own lawsuits instead of getting involved in class actions, says an Ontario lawyer who has represented people assaulted by priests.

“Some of it has to be based upon your personal philosophy; I just don’t believe in class-action suits for victims of sexual abuse, and particularly childhood victims who have been abused by priests,” Paul Ledroit said Tuesday.

“I can’t think of a worse thing that you could do to a child.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

By Mary Ann Ahern

Tuesday, Jan 17, 2012

After nearly 40 years, a Chicago-area woman last summer told the Chicago Archdiocese that Rev. George Klein, once the principal at St. Benedict High School, had sexually abused her.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said it started after she was found drunk at a basketball game in the mid 1970s. She was called to the principal’s office and she thought she would be expelled from school. But what she says happened was far worse.

“He did touch me, he kissed me, he fondled me, he opened up my blouse, went up my skirt. He molested me right there in the school,” she recalled.

She said it happened repeatedly for more than a year. …

In the letter, McCluskey states: “The Board made the determination that Fr. Klein’s conduct did not constitute sexual abuse of a minor but was otherwise inappropriate.”

It turns out Fr. Klein phoned Cardinal Francis George in mid-December, anxious to hear if he had been cleared. After that conversation, he told his pastor he was allowed to once again say mass and did so at St. Philip the Apostle in Northfield on Jan. 1, telling parishioners he was the victim of unfair allegations

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RIVER FOREST (IL)
RiverForest.com

By Devin Rose
Staff Reporter

River Forest police and school officials are closely monitoring areas around the village’s schools after a man charged with sexual abuse was seen multiple times outside of Lincoln School.

Rev. Bede R. Jagoe, 77, turned himself into police last month after he allegedly fondled and tried to kiss a man at Midway Airport, where he was assigned to the chapel. Jagoe is a member of the Dominican order and lives at the Dominican Priory residential community, 7200 W. Division St.

River Forest Deputy Police Chief Craig Rutz said he had heard Jagoe was out on bail but couldn’t confirm it. His bail had been set at $10,000 after the Dec. 23 arrest.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post UK

Richard Scorer

Before the child abuse scandal of the last decade, Catholic priests held influential and highly respected roles within the community. They enjoyed the trust of the public and unquestioned access to children. We know that created extensive opportunities for sexual abuse.

What we don’t know is the true scale of that abuse. Child abuse is accompanied by fear and shame, and most victims never come forward. Only around 10% of sexual abuse allegations result in criminal convictions. And there’s a further reason, which is that for many decades the Catholic Church persistently ignored and in many cases covered up complaints of abuse. As a lawyer acting for victims, I’ve seen evidence of cover ups on many of my cases – victims warned against taking their complaints to the police, priests transferred away from parishes suddenly until complaints die down.

The Catholic church now maintains that it abhors child abuse and that it wants to root it out. If the Catholic church is serious about this – and I’ve no doubt that there are at least some in the church hierarchy who are determined to confront the problem – then in my view it has a responsibility to come clean about past abuse. And there’s a simple way for the Catholic church to do this – open its secret archives to the police.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

January 16, 2012 10:21 pm | Author: Jerry Berger

It’s a Goliath v. David struggle: Lawyers for Catholic officials in St. Louis and Kansas City demanding depositions and thousands of pages of documents deemed private by two local SNAP leaders, David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris. But SNAP has picked up editorial support from Missouri’s two largest newspapers and the independent National Catholic Reporter. In a 2,500-word piece, the NCR opines that, “We know from too many stories of suicides and destroyed lives that it was only because of the diligence of outside watchdogs and whistleblowers that abuse in this country was taken seriously. It was only because of (SNAP’s) work that our church was forced, grudgingly, to change.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The appointment of Cardinal Levada’s successor has been postponed until April if not later. There is no Italian running for the position. German cardinal Müller and French cardinal Ricard stand out as potential favourites for the post. But an Englishman’s name is also being considered

ANDREA TORNIELLI
Vatican City

Next week, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will hold a plenary session in the Palace of the Holy Office. Everyone expected the name of Cardinal William Levada’s successor to be announced straight after this meeting. Cardinal Levada has been Prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, once referred to as “la Suprema” (the Supreme congregation), since 2005. But it looks like the decision date has been pushed forward. Benedict XVI wants to take his time before making the final decision, taking great care to examine all the possibilities on the table.

Meanwhile, the 64 year old Bishop of Regensburg, Gerhard Ludwig Müller remains a potential candidate. He is already a member of the Congregation and as a theologian, is highly esteemed by Benedict XVI, who unexpectedly summoned him to Rome in recent days, to discuss his future call to the Curia. Should he not succeed in being appointed as head of the dicastery, the German bishop could be nominated Cardinal Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, substituting Raffaele Farina and nominated cardinal in a future concistory.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB

[with video]

Mark Parrotte

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – The Buffalo Catholic Diocese released new information about the removal of a long-time pastor from a downtown parish.

Father Second Casarotto served at St. Anthony of Padua for more than 25 years. He’s been placed on administrative leave. A statement read at Mass says he’s been called back to his order’s provincial house and that he requests your prayers and assures his prayers as well.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Montgormery Media

By Thomas P. Murt
State Representative

Grand jury investigations into the recent child sex abuse scandals, which have rocked Penn State and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, have placed the issue of child sex abuse onto the front burner here in Pennsylvania — where it belongs.

I serve on the state’s Child and Youth Committee and have listened to and read many hours of excruciatingly painful testimony from victims and their families describing the most heinous sexual abuse imaginable. The institutional cover-ups and subsequent ill-treatment of victims have made these terrible situations even worse. It’s a sad day, indeed, when concern for institutional risk management trumps uncovering the truth.

I recently listened to testimony concerning two perpetrators who were Franciscan Friars and who taught at Archbishop Ryan High School when I was on the faculty there. As a life-long Catholic, a former parochial school teacher and a religious education instructor, I am filled with anguish over these incidents.

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KENTUCKY
Business Courier

Jon Newberry
Staff Reporter – Business Courier

Kenton County Circuit Judge Gregory Bartlett said Tuesday he’ll rule within a week on motions to dismiss two lawsuits filed against Stan Chesley and his associate Bob Steinberg over their handling of the Covington Diocese sex-abuse class-action settlement that was approved in 2006.

Covington lawyer Michael O’Hara, who represents Chesley and Steinberg, argued the complaints raised in the current lawsuits were already dealt with, and rejected by the court, in the earlier class-action case that formally ended in 2009. Chesley and Steinberg represented hundreds of victims of sex-abuse by Diocese officials in that class action, and O’Hara was their co-counsel.

Claimants received more than $60 million, after fees, from settlement funds contributed by the Diocese and its insurers. Chesley’s law firm and other lawyers were paid about $18.5 million in legal fees, or 22 percent of the awards to claimants.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A public inquiry should be held into church child abuse, a solicitor representing victims of an East Sussex priest has said.

Tracey Emmott, one of eight lawyers appealing for the inquiry into abuse within the church in England and Wales, made the call in a letter to The Times.

Her seven clients are among victims of paedophile priest Roy Cotton, who worked for the Diocese of Chichester.

A Church of England spokeswoman said it would co-operate with a public inquiry.

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BELGIQUE
Le Vif

(Belga) Une perquisition a été menée mardi après-midi à la congrégation des Frères de la Charité, à Gand, dans le cadre de l’Opération Calice qui vise les abus sexuels commis au sein de l’Eglise, a indiqué le service d’information de la VRT.

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BELGIQUE
rtbf

Une trentaine de dossiers ont été saisis par les enquêteurs lors des perquisitions menées mardi dans les évêchés de Bruges et de Gand, ainsi que chez les Frères de la Charité, à Gand, dans le cadre de l’opération Calice, a indiqué le parquet fédéral.

Le juge De Troy procède depuis lundi à une série de perquisitions. Les dossiers saisis mardi concernent des écclesiastiques cités dans des affaires d’abus sexuels sur mineurs commis au sein de l’Église.

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CALIFORNIA
National Catholic Reporter

by Joe Ferullo on Jan. 17, 2012 NCR Today

I was having some coffee with an old friend from a well-known Catholic family a few days ago when the subject of Bishop Gabino Zavala came up. Zavala, an auxiliary bishop in the Los Angeles archdiocese, resigned in early January when it was discovered he was the father of two teenaged children. But, my friend said, no one was talking about it.

She was right. The story had appeared dutifully in local and national newspapers the day of the resignation announcement, but that was it. There was no outrage, no beating the drums about the hypocrisy of celibacy, no linkage to the unending pedophilia scandals. The story just fizzled.

We ordered a second cup and worked over a few conspiracy theories: The new Los Angeles archbishop, Jose Gomez, pulled strings and silenced the press. This was unlikely.

Powerful allies of the well-regarded Zavala made back-door pleas to lower the temperature to local editors who also knew and respected the former bishop. A better theory, but still out there on the edge.

Our cynical side stoked, we tried this one: apathy. After more than a decade of tawdry scandal from every corner of the globe, this story just didn’t shock anybody. In fact, compared to some of the revelations of the last few years, it was downright tame.

But a better answer hit me: The story was just too sad.

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NEDERLAND
Rijksoverheid

Nieuwsbericht | 16-01-2012

Minister Opstelten van Veiligheid en Justitie en staatssecretaris Veldhuijzen van Zanten van VWS stellen een Taskforce kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik in. Dit schrijven zij aan de Tweede Kamer in een reactie op het rapport van de Commissie seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk (de Commissie Beekman).

Het kabinet deelt met de Commissie Deetman de urgentie om seksueel misbruik in instellingen huiselijke kring te voorkomen en om daders aan te pakken. Centrale regie van de overheid vinden zij hierbij nodig. De Taskforce kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik gaat er mede op toezien dat het Actieplan aanpak kindermishandeling wordt uitgevoerd. Dit plan is onlangs aangeboden aan de Tweede Kamer en bevat maatregelen voor verbetering van de preventie, signalering en bestrijding van kindermishandeling.

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CANADA
Market Watch

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Jan 17, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — The Honourable John Duncan, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, today launched a call for proposals for the 2012-2013 funding for the Advocacy and Public Information Program (APIP).

In its sixth year, the program works with partners to support the sharing of information and to ensure that the Aboriginal community, particularly former residential school students and their families, are aware of all aspects of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

“Our government supports opportunities and gestures to strengthen efforts toward reconciliation between Aboriginal people, their families and communities and all Canadians. The Advocacy and Public Information Program is designed to promote a better understanding of the legacy of residential schools and build new partnerships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples,” said Minister Duncan.

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PENNSYLVANIA
San Antonio Express-News

SMETHPORT, Pa. (AP) — A teenage boy testified that a suspended Catholic priest from northwestern Pennsylvania continued to contact him and invite him to visit even after the boy’s mother objected.

The mother, meanwhile, testified that she continued to allow another son to visit the priest because he wasn’t lying about it and hiding the visits.

Testimony was to continue Tuesday in the trial of the Rev. Samuel Slocum. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie suspended Slocum, 60, from duties at two churches in rural McKean County after he was charged in April with corruption of minors, interference with the custody of children, concealing the whereabouts of a child and other crimes.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
4NI

A priest jailed for sexually abusing three young girls is set to be freed after winning his appeal against conviction.

Father Eugene Lewis has partially won his appeal today after senior judges dismissed three of eleven counts of indecent assault that the priest was found guilty of committing.

The 77-year-old was originally sentenced to four years in prison for the sex crimes he committed nearly 40 years ago but in September 2010 his sentence was reduced to two years and nine months.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

BRUGGE/GENT – Bij de huiszoekingen in de bisdommen van Brugge en Gent en bij de Broeders van Liefde in Gent werden ruim dertig dossiers in beslag genomen. Het gaat, net als bij de huiszoekingen maandag, om persoonlijke dossiers van geestelijken die genoemd worden in feiten van seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen. Dat zegt het federale parket.

De Brusselse onderzoeksrechter De Troy liet maandag diverse huiszoekingen uitvoeringen, o.m. bij de bisdommen van Hasselt en Antwerpen en bij het aartsbisdom in Mechelen.

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BELGIE
Knack

dinsdag 17 januari 2012 om 16u15

(Belga) In het kader van de Operatie Kelk wordt deze namiddag ook een huiszoeking uitgevoerd bij de Broeders van Liefde in Gent. Dat meldt de VRT-nieuwsdienst en wordt bevestigd door woordvoerder Lieven Claeys van de Broeders Van Liefde.

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BELGIE
HLN

HLN update Speurders hebben vandaag ruim 30 dossiers in beslag genomen na huiszoekingen bij de bisdommen van Brugge en Gent en in het regionale huis van de Broeders van Liefde in Gent. De huiszoekingen gebeurden in opdracht van onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy.

Volgens het federaal parket gaat het, net als bij de huiszoekingen gisteren, om persoonlijke dossiers van geestelijken die genoemd worden in feiten van seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen. Het gaat zowel om dossiers van geestelijken die nog in leven zijn als overleden personen.

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NETHERLANDS
Vatican Insider

In an interview with “Témoignage Chretien” Professor Munsterman gives some initial comments in light of the shocking findings of the Deetman Committee. Meanwhile, results as a whole prove wrong the thesis that the Church is more affected by the scandals than the rest of society

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

Before the anti-abuse “purification” imposed by Benedict XVI on national bishops’ conferences, the response of national churches to the worldwide scandal of paedophile priests has been inadequate. In fact, the “tendency to retreat, accompanied by mistrust towards the outside world” and “attempts to escape from the critical issues” must be avoided. Hendro Munsterman, Director of the Ministry of Religious Studies at the Catholic University of Lyon recognized the responsibilities of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, inspired by the shocking conclusions of the Deetman Committee, established at The Hague. The survey estimates that there have been “tens of thousands” of victims of sexual abuse by around 800 paedophile priests in the Netherlands between 1945 and 2010. “Tens of thousands of children have suffered light, serious or very serious sexual abuse by priests in the Dutch Catholic Church between 1945 and 2010,” the commission wrote in the report.

“On the basis of 1,795 reports, the Committee was able to trace 800 abusers who have worked or are working for the diocese, and at least 105 are still alive,” the report continued. Based on the results received by the Deetman Commission, Professor Hendro Munsterman, on information website Témoignage Chretien observes how the investigation conducted in the Netherlands denies that clerical celibacy leads to child abuse. Instead, the sex scandals involving “infidel” clergy are linked to “a drift due to a relationship of power and the victim’s dependence on the individual committing the abuse.” According to Hendro Munsterman, the idea that paedophilia among priests is caused by celibacy and a Catholic sexual morality that is too rigid, is “too simplistic”.

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BELGIUM
Vatican Insider

Material seized in the offices of some bishops. The spokesman of a bishop: “We have nothing to hide”

Vatican Insider Staff
Rome

New searches by Belgian police in the investigation into alleged abuses committed by priests against children. According to local media, the agents – by order of the judiciary as part of “Operation Chalice” – seized material from the offices of the Archbishop of Malin-Brussels and the bishops of Antwerp and Hasselt. “We are looking for personal files relating to certain prelates whose names have been mentioned in the statements of victims,” explained Lieve Pellens, spokesperson for the Belgian federal prosecutor, quoted by the Belgian news agency, who noted that the operation is “in an important phase.”

The spokesperson also wanted to clarify that the Catholic Church- unlike in June of 2010, when the Vatican accused the Belgian authorities of behaving “worse than Communists” – provided their “full cooperation, everything has been done legally.” “We have nothing to hide,” stressed Clem Vande Broek, spokesperson for the Bishop of Hasselt.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Vatican Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, has appointed the Salesian Sergio Pellini as head of the Vatican Press and the Holy See’s newspaper L’Osservatore Romano

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

The glorious Vatican Polyglot Press has a new head and L’Osservatore Romano has a new director general. The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has appointed Salesian Father Sergio Pellini as new director general of the “Vatican Press Office and L’Osservatore Romano Newspaper”.

The two bodies which were merged into one some time ago, were directed by another Salesian cleric, Fr. Pietro Migliasso. According to the recent history of this Holy See institution, in 1909, the Vatican Printing Office and the Polyglot Press were merged to form the Vatican Polyglot Press, which changed names again in 1991, in conjunction with a general restructuring of the company started by John Paul II.

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BELGIUM
The Associated Press

By DON MELVIN, Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Belgian authorities searched the administrative offices of the bishops of Bruges and Ghent on Tuesday, a day after raiding similar offices in three other cities as they investigated whether church officials protected child abusers instead of their victims.

Peter Rossel, a spokesman for Jozef de Kessel, the Bishop of Bruges, 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Brussels, confirmed that a search had taken place there. He said the church was cooperating fully with the investigation.

Koen Vlaeminck, a spokesman for the church in Ghent, told The Associated Press that authorities had arrived at church offices with a request for files relating to 13 specific individuals. He said the church had cooperated, and had been allowed to retain copies of the files.

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UNITED KINGDOM
PRNewswire

MANCHESTER, England, January 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ —

A leading ‘abuse case’ lawyer is challenging the Catholic Church to open its secret archives of documents for independent examination in order to discover the truth about child abuse by its priests.

Richard Scorer, a Partner and specialist in child abuse cases at Manchester law firm Pannone, says, “Every Catholic diocese has a secret archive which is kept locked and has in it secret documents. In the words of the Code of Canon Law, these documents are to be ‘protected most securely’ and contain, ‘matters of morals’ and ‘criminal cases’. Only the bishop is allowed to possess the key and the archive is only to be opened in a case of ‘true necessity’. It is my feeling and that of many of my legal peers that this moment of necessity is here.”

Says Mr Scorer, “It is like something from a Dan Brown novel, but this is not the Da Vinci Code, it is the Code of Canon Law and it has a bearing on the lives of hundreds probably even thousands of people. In every one of those archives there will be evidence of past scandals, if the Catholic Church really wants to help those children its priest’s may have abused in the past, it should open up its secret archives to independent investigation now and cleanse itself of its culture of denial and cover-up. ”

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NEDERLAND
Rijksoverheid

Reactie rapport seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 17, 2012
By Tom Roberts

Archbishop Charles Chaput’s announcement Jan. 6 that the Philadelphia archdiocese will be closing schools in record numbers during the coming year (see story) was the latest and loudest rumble in a series of seismic displacements that are permanently reshaping the look of U.S. Catholicism.

What is happening in Philadelphia follows the same script, fashioned by demographic shifts and economic need, that has been in use throughout the Northeast and Upper Midwest. The drama may differ in particulars from place to place — some bishops might accomplish the grim task with more pastoral sensitivity than others, some may involve the larger community more deeply in the decision-making process than others — but the results are pretty much the same. From Philadelphia to Newark, N.J., New York to Boston, Cleveland to Chicago to Detroit and beyond, the church of the immigrants is going the same route as the old industrial America of our forebears. The huge plants — churches, schools and parish halls — markers of another era, like the hulking steel mills and manufacturing plants of old, can no longer be sustained. There aren’t enough Catholics left in those places, not enough priests and nuns and certainly not enough money to maintain the church as it once was.

According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, the church in the United States has lost 1,359 parishes during the past 10 years, or 7.1 percent of the national total, and most of those have been in the Northeast and the Upper Midwest.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivors Advocates Coalition

NSAC News calls your attention today to a Friday, January 20, 2012 State of Delaware scheduled execution of Robert Gattis, who is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and your consideration in signing a petition for clemency to life in prison without parole.

We are printing, in its entirety, Sister Maureen Turlish’s letter to Delaware Governor Jack Markell and the Delaware Board of Pardons regarding a request for computation of the death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. An edited version of the letter appeared as an OP-ED in the Delaware News Journal on Friday 1/13/12.

At the bottom of the letter is the website where the petition for clemency may be signed.

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NEDERLAND
de Gelderlander

DEN HAAG – De Tweede Kamer hoort woensdagmiddag en -avond vertegenwoordigingen van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk.

Ook aartsbisschop Wim Eijk komt naar de Kamer om de commissie voor Veiligheid en Justitie van informatie te voorzien, evenals Cees van Dam van de Konferentie van Nederlandse Religieuzen.

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BELGIE
HLN

[met video]

HLN update Het federaal parket was tijdens de huiszoekingen bij de bisdommen in Antwerpen, Hasselt en Mechelen vandaag op zoek naar persoonlijke dossiers van specifieke geestelijken, die in de verklaringen van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik genoemd zijn. Dat werd vernomen bij Lieve Pellens, woordvoerster van het federaal parket. De huiszoekingen werden uitgevoerd door onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy en een vijftiental speurders in het kader van Operatie Kelk. Het parket heeft tien dossiers van overleden priesters meegenomen tijdens de huiszoeking in Mechelen.

“Het is een belangrijke fase in het onderzoek Operatie Kelk, waarin we doelgericht op zoek gaan naar belangrijke bouwstenen”, meldt Pellens. “Er zijn tweehonderd verklaringen van slachtoffers afgelegd en 87 burgerlijke partijen. We waren op zoek naar persoonlijke dossiers van specifieke geestelijken, die in de verklaringen van de slachtoffers genoemd zijn.”

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BELGIE
Vandaag

Advocate Christine Mussche, die enkele slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door geestelijken vertegenwoordigt, reageert met tevredenheid op de huiszoekingen die het federaal parket en onderzoeksrechter De Troy maandag hebben uitgevoerd bij de bisdommen van Antwerpen, Hasselt en Mechelen.

“We zijn verheugd dat het gerecht ernstig werk blijft leveren en kunnen alleen maar hopen dat hierdoor de waarheid, niets anders dan de waarheid en de volledige waarheid naar boven wordt gebracht”, zegt ze.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Lebanon Daily News

SMETHPORT, Pa.—Testimony was expected to continue in the trial of a suspended northwestern Pennsylvania priest accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old boy.

The Rev. Samuel Slocum is not charged with having sexual contact with the boy, but rather with corrupting the boy and interfering with his mother’s custody of him by continuing to contact the boy after his mother told the priest to stop.

The Erie diocese removed the 60-year-old priest from duty at two churches in McKean County after the charges were filed in April. The trial opened there Monday at the courthouse in Smethport.

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UNITED KINGDOM
This is the West Country

A RETIRED Church of England priest was today jailed for six years sexual offences dating back to the early 1980s.

The Rev Geoffrey Cooke was found guilty of eight offences against a boy aged under 15 during a trial in November.

Sentencing Cooke at Taunton Crown Court, Judge Graham Hume Jones said his crimes had had a lasting effect on his victim.

Cooke faces a Church disciplinary procedure and is likely to be banned from taking to the pulpit ever again.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 17 JAN 2012 (VIS) – Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. has appointed Fr. Sergio Pellini S.D.B. as director general of the Vatican Press.

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BELGIE
DePers

In verscheidene Belgische bisdommen zijn maandag invallen gedaan door de politie en het Openbaar Ministerie (OM). Bij de huiszoekingen zijn dossiers in beslag genomen. De huiszoekingen hebben te maken met het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik in de kerk.

Invallen zijn gedaan in Antwerpen en Hasselt. Ook bij het aartsbisdom in Mechelen zijn huiszoekingen gedaan. Daar werden in 2010 ook al invallen gedaan. Toen werd ook de woning van kardinaal Godfried Danneels doorzocht. Een rechter verklaarde deze huiszoekingen echter onrechtmatig. Destijds in beslag genomen dossiers mogen niet worden gebruikt.

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NEDERLAND
Metro

Er komt een onderzoek naar seksueel geweld en daaraan gerelateerde verschijnselen zoals kindermishandeling, huiselijk geweld en gedwongen prostitutie. Daarmee reageert het kabinet op de aanbevelingen van de commissie-Deetman, die onderzoek deed naar seksueel misbruik in de katholieke kerk.

Het onderzoek moet ‘diepgaand inzicht’ verschaffen ‘in dit ernstige misdrijf dat zulke ingrijpende gevolgen heeft voor de slachtoffers en voor de maatschappij’, schrijft minister van Veiligheid en Justitie Ivo Opstelten (VVD) aan de Tweede Kamer. Bij het onderzoek wil de bewindsman ook de conclusies betrekken van de commissie-Samson, die onderzoek doet naar seksueel misbruik in overheidsinstellingen.

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BELGIE
Nieuws

Operatie Kelk, het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk, is nieuw leven ingeblazen. Vanochtend waren er huiszoekingen bij de bisdommen van Antwerpen en Hasselt, later ook bij het aartsbisschop van Mechelen.

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BELGIE
De Redactie

In het bisdom van Gent is een huiszoeking aan de gang. Eerder vanmorgen gebeurde dit ook al in Brugge. De huiszoekingen komen niet onverwachts, gisteren vielen de speurders al binnen in de bisdommen van Antwerpen en Hasselt en in het aartsbisdom in Mechelen. De actie past in Operatie Kelk, het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik in de kerk.

Dat de speurders ook in Brugge langsgingen, is niet verbazend. Wellicht waren ze op zoek naar dossiers van specifieke geestelijken die in verklaringen vernoemd zijn. Dat was gisteren het geval in Antwerpen, Hasselt en Mechelen.

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BELGIE
Knack

(Belga) Bij het bisdom van Gent zijn dinsdagmiddag huiszoekingen aan de gang. Dat bevestigt woordvoerder Koen Vlaeminck van het Gentse bisdom. De huiszoekingen kaderen in de Operatie Kelk.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

BRUGGE/GENT – Er zijn deze morgen huiszoekingen gebeurd bij de bisdommen van Brugge en Gent. Er zijn nu al vijf huiszoekingen gebeurd in twee dagen in het kader van ‘Operatie Kelk’. Dat bevestigde de woordvoerder van de Bisschoppenconferentie.

De Brusselse onderzoeksrechter De Troy liet maandag diverse huiszoekingen uitvoeringen, o.m. bij de bisdommen van Hasselt en Antwerpen en bij het aartsbisdom in Mechelen.

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BELGIE
De Telegraaf

BRUSSEL – In het bureau van het bisdom Brugge heeft de politie dinsdagochtend huiszoekingen uitgevoerd. Ook deed de politie invallen bij het bisdom Gent. De invallen hebben te maken met Operatie Kelk, het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik door geestelijken.

Maandag werden er al huiszoekingen gedaan in de bureaus van de bisdommen Antwerpen en Hasselt en het aartsbisdom Mechelen-Brussel. Er werden toen dossiers meegenomen van geestelijken die bij naam genoemd zijn in verklaringen van slachtoffers. Ook dinsdag is er gericht naar dossiers gezocht.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing three young sisters is to be freed early after partially winning an appeal against his conviction.

Father Eugene Lewis was jailed for four years in September 2010.

The 77-year-old was found guilty of 11 charges of indecent assault between 1963 and 1973. He denied the charges.

On Tuesday, senior judges overturned three of the 11 counts and reduced his prison sentence from four years to two years and nine months.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

A Catholic priest jailed for sexually abusing three young girls more than 40 years ago is set to be freed after partially winning his appeal against conviction.

Senior judges on Tuesday overturned three of eleven counts of indecent assault Father Eugene Lewis was found guilty of committing.

A four-year prison sentence imposed on the 77-year-old in September 2010 was also reduced to two years and nine months.

With his time behind bars now served, preparations were being made to have him released from custody.

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GALESBURG (IL)
The Globe Gazette

By DENNIS MAGEE For The Globe Gazette
GALESBURG, Ill. – A pair of federal bankruptcy trustees and a private attorney grilled the leader of the Buchanan Abbey under oath Friday afternoon.

The creditors meeting in the Knox County Courthouse was designed to determine what assets Ryan St. Anne Scott and his failed venture in Illinois, the Holy Rosary Abbey, still have and where those items, real estate and bank accounts are.

Scott, his alleged religious community and their llama herd near Independence is threatened by eviction because Scott failed to get insurance coverage on the former county home.

Scott agreed to buy the property in March, and the real estate contract directed him to carry insurance for the duration of the two-year deal. He failed to make good on that commitment.

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CANADA
CBC News

Former residential school students in Saskatchewan can share their stories with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission over the next few months.

The commission, which is gathering stories from aboriginal people across Canada about the residential schools experience, began community hearings in Regina on Monday.

The Regina hearings, which run until Wednesday, allow former students to talk about what they went through at the church-run, government-funded schools.

Many have talked about the forced cultural assimilation — and, in some cases, abuse — they experienced at residential schools.

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CANADA
CJME

Residential school survivors are sharing their experiences at a hearing hosted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which is taking place until Wednesday at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina.

The hearings are designed to provide opportunities for all Canadians, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, to learn about the dark legacy of the residential school system.

More hearings will be held later this month on the Key First Nation and in Prince Albert leading up to the Saskatchewan National Event, which will be held on June 21-24 in Saskatoon.

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BELGIQUE
RTL

Les perquisitions qui ont lieu dans le cadre de l’opération Calice se sont poursuivies et se poursuivent toujours ce mardi. Cette fois elles se concentrent à l’évêché de Bruges. D’autres perquisitions sont en cours dans le cadre de l’opération Calice, mardi midi, à l’évêché de Gand, confirme son porte-parole, Koen Vlaeminck.

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BELGIQUE
Radio Vatican

En Belgique, les suites de “l’opération Calice”. L’évêché d’Anvers confirme de nouvelles perquisitions, ce lundi 16 janvier, dans les diocèses d’Anvers, de Hasselt et de Malines-Bruxelles. Elles auraient été effectuées à la demande du juge d’instruction bruxellois, Wim De Troy. Ce dernier était d’ailleurs présent lors des perquisitions.

Selon Catho.be, les enquêteurs auraient saisi « des dossiers, anciens et nouveaux, liés à des cas d’abus sexuels » présumés, mais « des copies auraient été laissées sur place afin notamment de pouvoir poursuivre les procédures d’indemnisation » des victimes.

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NEDERLAND
Rijksoverheid

Persbericht | 16-01-2012

Minister Opstelten van Veiligheid en Justitie stelt samen met staatssecretaris Veldhuijzen van Zanten van VWS de Taskforce kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik in. Het kabinet deelt de urgentie van de Commissie Deetman om seksueel misbruik te voorkomen, zowel in instellingen als in huiselijke kring, en daders stevig aan te pakken. Centrale regie van de overheid is hierbij nodig.

De Taskforce zal mede toezien op de uitvoering van het Actieplan aanpak kindermishandeling dat namens de ministeries van VWS en Veiligheid en Justitie recentelijk aan de Kamer is aangeboden. Het Actieplan benoemt een stevig aantal maatregelen dat een betere preventie en signalering van kindermishandeling tot gevolg moet hebben, alsmede kindermishandeling die gaande is moet bestrijden.

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BELGIE
Zita

Bij de bisdommen van Antwerpen en Hasselt heeft de federale gerechtelijke politie maandag nieuwe huiszoekingen uitgevoerd in het kader van Operatie Kelk. Ook bij het aartsbisdom in Mechelen is een huiszoeking aan de gang. Enkele dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in de kerk werden meegenomen. Dat bevestigt de Bisschoppenconferentie.

Bij de huiszoeking bij het bisdom Antwerpen zijn een tiental dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in beslag genomen, net als enkele lijsten met namen van slachtoffers die het bisdom gecontacteerd hadden. Het gaat zowel om oudere als meer recente dossiers, zegt woordvoerder Olivier Lins van het bisdom Antwerpen.

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BELGIE
De Redactie

Het federale parket en de politie hebben huiszoekingen gehouden bij de bisdommen van Antwerpen, Hasselt en Mechelen. Ze hebben de dossiers van een aantal geestelijken die verdacht worden van seksueel misbruik meegenomen.

Onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy, de federale procureur en een aantal politiemensen meldden zich vanmorgen bij het bisdom in Antwerpen. “Een aantal dossiers werden opgevraagd en die hebben wij dan ook meegegeven”, zegt woordvoerder Olivier Lins van het bisdom Antwerpen.

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BELGIE
Trouw

In de bisdommen van Antwerpen en Hasselt zijn vandaag invallen gedaan door de politie en het Openbaar Ministerie. Bij de huiszoekingen zijn dossiers in beslag genomen. De huiszoekingen hebben te maken met het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik in de kerk.

Het onderzoek, Operatie Kelk genaamd, kijkt of de leiding van de kerk heeft verzuimd hulp te verlenen aan slachtoffers van misbruik binnen de kerk. Eerdere huiszoekingen in het kader hiervan werden door de rechter als onrechtmatig bestempeld.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

Commentaar
dinsdag 17 januari 2012

Auteur: Guy Tegenbos

Laat deze nieuwe Operatie Kelk aan ons voorbijgaan, zuchtten vele burgers, kerksen en niet-kerksen, toen het gerecht gisteren opnieuw binnenviel bij de Kerk, op zoek naar dossiers van seksueel misbruik en schuldig verzuim van kerk- en congregatieleiders.

Ze hadden uiteenlopende argumenten.

Onder meer de vrees dat het weinige dat rest na het eerste onderzoek, ook nog verknald zou worden. Het grootste deel werd naar de bliksem geholpen door gerechtelijke overmoed, en door de gretigheid om een instelling als de Kerk aan de muur te spijkeren. Dat bracht een procedureslag op gang, waardoor belangrijke delen van het materiaal niet meer gebruikt kunnen worden.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

I came across the following alarming headline from National Public Radio (NPR) when searching in Google the other day:

“Catholic Church Still Hiding Sexual Predators?”

Wow. That is a provocative and disturbing headline, indeed. The thought that the Church is “still hiding sexual predators” in 2012 is very troubling. I wanted to see what this was all about.

Well, I listened to the accompanying audio and read the transcript. It turns out the headline was – well – bogus.

The piece is simply an interview with Boston Globe reporter Michael Rezendes, in which he and the NPR host (Michel Martin) reflect on the ten years since the Globe’s extensive 2002 coverage of the scandals.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Tom Kington in Rome
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 15 January 2012

Demonstrators attempting to set up a protest camp in St Peter’s Square in Rome have been forcibly removed by riot police backed by the Vatican.

Aiming to set up a protest camp similar to the Occupy encampment outside St Paul’s in London, up to 50 protesters arrived in the colonnaded piazza in front of St Peter’s basilica carrying placards calling on the Catholic church to pay more taxes, a likely reference to tax breaks handed to the Vatican by the Italian government.

One of the group of protesters, who were mainly French and Spanish, arrived in a pope’s outfit bearing the slogan “indignant heart”, a reference to the Spanish Indignados protest movement.

Police moved in when one of the protesters scaled the large Christmas tree standing in the square. Two of the group and one officer were injured in the subsequent scuffle as police in riot gear cleared the demonstrators from the square. Three of the group were detained for identification.

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VATICAN CITY
CathNews

Demonstrators attempting to set up a protest camp in St Peter’s Square in Rome have been forcibly removed by riot police backed by the Vatican, reports the Guardian.

Aiming to set up a protest camp similar to the Occupy encampment outside St Paul’s in London, up to 50 protesters arrived in the colonnaded piazza in front of St Peter’s Basilica carrying placards calling on the Catholic church to pay more taxes – likely in reference to tax breaks handed to the Vatican by the Italian government.

One of the group of protesters, who were mainly French and Spanish, arrived in a pope’s outfit bearing the slogan “indignant heart”, a reference to the Spanish Indignados protest movement.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Kevin Manahan/The Star-Ledger

MORRIS TOWNSHIP — Officials for the Delbarton School and St. Mary’s Abbey admitted yesterday “mistakes were made” in their monitoring of former headmaster Luke Travers, who violated restrictions placed on him after he was accused last year of sexual misconduct, according to religious officials in Virginia.

The Rev. Travers, 55, the headmaster at Delbarton from 1999 to 2007, was working as the administrative head of Mary Mother of the Church Abbey in Richmond, Va., when the two-decades-old allegations were made in June.

At that time, Travers was told an investigation was being launched and that he could not have contact with anyone under 25, could say Mass only for fellow clergy and could not have access to a car.

But Virginia religious officials say Travers said Mass to children, visited a local high school and had access to a car over the next seven months.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Kevin Cullen
| Globe Columnist
January 17, 2012

Joe Crowley didn’t know how he’d feel when everybody started talking about anniversaries and commemorations and retrospectives.

It’s been 10 years since the story of the international cover-up of sexual abuse by priests exploded here in Boston. For most people, it’s just that: a story.

But for Joe Crowley, a survivor, it’s his story, the only one he can tell. He was a 15-year-old student at Boston College High School, on a college path, when a predator wearing a Roman collar named Paul Shanley changed all that. Shanley abused Crowley, then sent him to other men.

Crowley’s life changed. College was pushed aside. Ambition was pushed aside. But he couldn’t push aside his shame, a gnawing sense that he, a 15-year-old boy, had somehow been responsible for a 40-year-old man’s depravity. “I was angry,’’ he said. “At my perpetrator. At the church, which I knew was aware of Shanley’s crimes and protected him. At myself, for allowing myself to be vulnerable.’’

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BELGIUM
Global News

Don Melvin, Tuesday, January 17, 2012

BRUSSELS – Belgian authorities are searching the administrative offices of the bishop of Bruges a day after raiding similar offices in three other cities as they investigate whether church officials protected child abusers instead of their victims.

Peter Rossel, a spokesman for the church in Bruges, 60 miles (96 kilometres) northwest of Brussels, confirmed Tuesday that the searches are ongoing. He said the church was co-operating fully with the investigation.

On Monday, authorities searched church offices in Hasselt, Mechelen and Antwerp. A judicial official close to the investigation told the AP on Monday the investigation, called “Operation Chalice,” could result in charges against church officials. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

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IOWA
Journal-Express

Steve Woodhouse Journal-Express

Pella — Though his defense attorney indicated otherwise at his last pretrial conference, there has been no action taken to reschedule the trial of former Pella pastor Patrick Edouard.

The trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 9:30 a.m., in Dallas County. The trial was moved from Marion County at the defendant’s request. Edouard is charged with three counts of third-degree sexual abuse and four counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

Chris Shannon
SYDNEY — Roman Catholic churches are facing the chopping block across the Sydney deanery in light of smaller congregations and the rising costs of operating the buildings.

In Sydney, there will be three church closures by July.

Two of the smallest churches to close are St. Mary’s Polish Church on Wesley Street and St. Nicholas Church on Gatacre Street, both in Whitney Pier, as well as St. Augustine’s Parish on Grand Lake Road.

The Diocese of Antigonish’s pastoral planning committee for the Sydney deanery emphasized that it remains a proposal at this point, and is welcoming comment and suggestions on the plans.

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BELGIUM
The New York Times

By STEPHEN CASTLE

Published: January 16, 2012

BRUSSELS — The Belgian authorities searched the offices of bishops in three cities on Monday, removing documents as part of an investigation into child sexual abuse that has plunged the country’s Roman Catholic church into crisis.

The raids took place in Antwerp, the eastern city of Hasselt, and Mechelen, where, in 2010, investigators drilled into a crypt in the quest for evidence.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecution Service, Lieve Pellens, said that the investigation, known as Operation Chalice, was an important phase in which officials were trying to establish whether there were grounds to prosecute priests on charges of negligence and failing to aid abuse victims.

“We have had around 200 statements from victims,” she said, “and based on these, and 87 civil claims, we wanted to look at the individual personal records of priests made by their superiors to see if, in these records that were kept by archbishops or bishops, there is anything useful.”

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

David Hennessey, Staff Writer

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

About five years ago, a visiting priest from Haiti was looking for a parish in the Diocese of Bridgeport to call home for a time.

His travels brought him to St. Mary’s Parish on Greenwich Avenue, whose pastor offered the priest, Jean Marie DeGraff, room and board while DeGraff was working in the diocese and advocating for his impoverished home country of Haiti. In return, DeGraff performed duties around the parish as needed, including assisting with Mass and speaking with parishioners, a role he filled between 2007 and 2008.

DeGraff, who became a priest in the Society of St. Jacques in Haiti in 2004, traveled throughout the diocese, which encompasses Fairfield County, with the permission of Bishop William Lori, speaking at parishes about his home country.

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CHILE
The Santiago Times

Monday, 16 January 2012
Written by Hector Soto

(Ed. Note: Fernando Karadima, 81, is the most conspicuous of Chilean priests to have been found guilty of the sexual abuse of minors. Before his unmasking, he ruled over a rich, conservative Santiago parish for more than 40 years. He was famous for shepherding bright young men—including four of Chile’s current bishops—into the priesthood. In February 2011, the Vatican sentenced him to a life of penance and prayer in seclusion.

(Hector Soto is a writer for all seasons. A columnist and film critic for La Tercera, where the following column appeared on Jan. 13, he examines culture in daily broadcasts on Chile’s main classical music station, Radio Beethoven.)

Just when we thought we knew everything about Karadima, another book appears to amaze and appall us. “The Secrets of Karadima’s Rule,” written by Juan Andres Guzman, Gustavo Villarrubia and Monica Gonzalez, is a rigorous investigative report that reads like a novel—for 450 frightening and inflammatory pages.

How is it possible, the reader asks, that such deception and shameless abuse happened unpunished for so long? Apart from the criminal acts the priest committed upon the young boys immediately around him, the book reveals (1) the intellectual atmosphere Karadima imposed on his congregation—superficial, exclusive, anti-woman, secretive, and based on extortion; (2) his command of the flood of money that came to his church; and (3) the way in which he shaped the Santiago archdiocese by getting his fervent disciples into seminary and positions where they made Chilean church policy.

Now, nobody is going to swallow a story of Manichean evil; Karadima must have had amazing skills as an organizer and a fiery charisma that drew people to him. Nothing less could have created the tremendously powerful sectarian apparatus that his parish became. He had a ravenous instinct for power. And he did what he is celebrated for doing: established spiritual study groups, the Union of Pious Priests, strong ties to business benefactors, channels to recruit young males of good family to the priesthood. All to control—or was it to release?—his demons.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

BY JOANNE MCCARTHY

17 Jan, 2012

THREE men are suing the Catholic church over allegations they were sexually assaulted by a paedophile teacher whose child sex convictions were known to Maitland-Newcastle diocese.

In claims to the NSW Supreme Court the men allege two priests who acted as directors of Catholic education knew Anthony Bambach had convictions for sexually assaulting five boys at Stroud in 1962 when he was employed in 1974 to teach primary school children.

The diocese has denied the directors knew of his offending, despite an affidavit from Bambach in a 2005 court case in which he alleged he told the late monsignors Coolahan and Dilley about his convictions when they interviewed him.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

By Dave Davis, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Catholic Diocese officials said Monday that it has received $19.5 million related to the closing of parishes and is reinvesting in those that remain.

The total includes proceeds from the sale of parish property and cash that parishes had on hand when they closed.

Money largely followed parishioners to their newly merged churches or to churches assigned the territory of the closed parishes, according to the diocese. But in cases where significant groups of people could not be tracked to a new parish, the money was contributed to the diocese’s Parish Assistance Fund to help any of the remaining 174 parishes with financial hardships or emergencies. That fund now has $1.3 million.

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UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abused and Healing

Virginia Jones

I try not to criticize the Catholic Church in public very much because the people in the pews and the leadership of the Church are all too human. You can’t really motivate people to change through criticism. I am the mother of two teenagers who went from being sweet, wonderful children to still wonderful but rather prickly children as soon as they hit puberty.

My son likes swear words. MY daughter likes creative put downs. I try to listen but sometimes I find myself resorting to long lectures about their bad behavior. The problem is they don’t respond well to lectures. Truthfully, they respond better when I model the behavior that I want them to display.

But my attempts to reform my children fly in the face of the culture around them. Both complain of significant bullying from classmates.

Unfortunately adolescent mood swings are not confined to adolescents because the people in the pews and the leadership of the Church often act like unruly adolescents — inclined to bully anyone who challenges their spiritual safety.

So I try modeling with other Catholics what needs to be done.

But this time, something so bad has happened that I cannot not criticize the Catholic Church.

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BELGIUM
SNAP Wisconsin

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was quoted as saying that “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice”. It is perhaps fitting that on the day in which we in the United States commemorate Dr. King’s birthday, victim/survivors of clergy childhood sexual assault in the nation of Belgium move one step closer toward obtaining some level of justice for the crimes that were inflicted upon them.

The Associated Press reports today that Belgian authorities have raided the offices of three bishops as part of a two year investigation into reports of clerical child sex crimes. The inquiry known as “Operation Chalice” descended today upon the dioceses of Hasselt, Mechelen, and Antwerp. A spokesperson for the Belgian Catholic Church insisted that the church had cooperated with authorities and had turned over the documents that were requested. Initial indications are that two dozen files were handed over to Belgian authorities.

It is reported that today’s raids were the result of 200 witness accounts and 87 civil claims. An official with Operation Chalice stated that the investigation focuses on “the non assistance to people in danger and is targeted at people higher up in the hierarchy” and “possibly we will be able to charge people”.

In June of 2010 investigators with Operation Chalice conducted a raid at the Cathedral of St. Rombout in Mechelen. It was there that authorities drilled holes into the crypt of Cardinal Joseph Mercier looking for hidden evidence of child sex crimes. Church records were also seized including two and a half truckloads worth of possible criminal evidence. Pope Benedict XVI responded by calling the raid “surprising and deplorable”.

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UNITED STATES
International Business Times

By Melanie Jones

January 16, 2012

Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs may be serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for sexual assault, but the former head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) continues to control his branch of the Mormon Church behind bars.

According to an insider within the radical Mormon sect, Warren Jeffs has been purging disloyal members and continuing to run the FLDS Church since around mid-November 2011.

But his attempts to keep control of the Church, as borderline illegal as they might be, only seem to be driving his followers away from him, in what may be the biggest split within the fundamentalist Mormon sect since its creation.

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TEXAS
CBS 7

Gary Hinterlong
CBS7 News
January 16, 2012

A priest re-assigned to the Santa Teresa de Jesus Parish in Presidio is being sued by leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso over his alleged handling of parish finances in which some donation checks allegedly were made out to him, not the church.

According to the Associated Press, Rev. Michael Rodriguez is denying wrongdoing and no criminal charges have been filed.

Reports find that the lawsuit filed last Wednesday seeks an accounting and return o funds allegedly meant for San Juan Bautista Church.

According to the lawsuit, back on September 7th, Bishop Armando Ochoa learned from two ex-parishoners that Rev. Rodriguez solicited money for a building project, but requested the checks be made out to him.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

As the recent National Catholic Reporter editorial defending SNAP in the Missouri subpoena situation about which I blogged on the weekend notes, SNAP is a modestly funded organization that is run on a shoestring budget and mostly by volunteers. Its total operating budget for a year is around $350,000.

And place this financial observation beside this report by Judy Thomas in the Kansas City Star last week: the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph (where SNAP is under heavy fire from church-hired lawyers) spent over $1 million in four months of 2011 in connection with cases of sexual abuse by priests. There are 24 pending lawsuits for abuse now facing the diocese and its employees. From 1 July 2002 through 31 Oct. 2011, the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has paid out $14.8 million on matters connected related to allegations of clerical sexual abuse.

And we’re asked by the likes of Bill Donohue, who functions as a virtual mouthpiece for the U.S. Catholic bishops, to imagine that the Catholic church is the victim of an ugly conspiracy of SNAP and abuse survivors who want to attack the church and tear it down? And that SNAP and abuse survivors function on a playing field level to that on which the church itself plays?

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BELGIUM
Newser

By RAF CASERT | Associated Press

Belgian authorities on Monday raided three bishops’ administrative offices as an official said investigators were nearing the end of a two-year probe into whether church officials protected child abusers at the expense of their victims. …

The main part of the investigation centers on “the non-assistance to people in danger and is targeted at people higher up in the hierarchy,” the official said. “Possibly, we will be able to charge people.” The official would not expand on who in the church hierarchy could potentially be charged.

“Today we saw the start of the final phase of Operation Chalice,” the official said, using the investigation’s code name. The official said the next step would likely be in a couple of months.

Tommy Scholtes, the spokesman for the Belgian bishop’s conference said, “it is up to the judicial authorities to find out whether there has been negligence.”

Church officials in both Mechelen and Hasselt said that several files taken Monday centered on the 1960s and 1970s. The cases are past the statute of limitation, but could still be used to show “non-assistance to people in danger,” said Jeroen Moens, a spokesman for the Mechelen Bishops’ office.

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BELGIUM
Monsters and Critics

Brussels – New police raids rocked the Belgian Catholic church on Monday, as prosecutors continued a high-profile investigation into child abuse allegations.

Police seized material from the offices of the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels – the head of the Catholic church in Belgium – and from those of bishops in Antwerp and Hasselt, two cities in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders.

‘We were looking for personal dossiers concerning certain clergymen whose names were mentioned in victims’ declarations,’ Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman for the Belgian Federal Prosecution office, was quoted as saying by Belga news agency.

The investigation, known as ‘Operation Chalice,’ is ‘at an important stage,’ Pellens told reporters.

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